In a letter to The Wellingtonian (Aug 20) Island Bay resident Keith Robinson asks some valid questions about the Island Bay Cycleway. You can read the full letter here.

One of Keith's concerns is with the profile, or slope, of the cycleway next to the existing kerbing. Keith points out that "The current cycle lanes have an approximate slope profile of 1:4 and are easy to ride. The new lanes will be 1:10, and in some instances worse". He is concerned that "The slope will be particularly bad for children, making them veer towards the kerbing and the large drain grills". What Keith forgets, however, is that at the moment Island Bay kids are mostly forced to ride on the pavement, which has a similar slope profile especially when crossing the many driveways along The Parade. The slope of the pavement doesn't cause any problems now so I'm not convinced that the slope of the cycle lanes will cause any problems either. We also shouldn't forget that there are already many examples around Wellington of roads where there is no street parking and cyclists ride immediately adjacent to the kerb without any problems being caused by the slope. That said, there are certainly patches next to the kerb on The Parade where a tidier job should have been done of resealing the road. It's not a major problem but it is something that the council will need to ensure that their contractors improve on in future. Keith is right about the drain grills, they all need to be replaced by cycle friendly grates that don't have longitudinal slots. This was an issue identified in one of the cycleway safety audits and the council have already agreed that this will be done.

Another of Keith's concerns is the width of the vehicle lanes. The map of the entire route on the WCC website shows the vehicle lanes at a consistent width of 3.0m, not 2.76m as assumed by Keith. The map clearly shows that it is the bike lanes that are variable in width to accommodate variations in the total width of the road. For example, the bike lanes in the section highlighted by Keith are actually 1.4m wide, not 1.5m (not including the 0.6m buffer). Although 3.0m wide lanes should allow plenty of room for vehicles to stay out of each other's path it's also worth noting that there will be long sections of The Parade where there will be no parked cars at all (i.e. where there are driveways and empty carparks) that provide a little more room.

It's true that drivers of parked cars will have to be careful when exiting their vehicles but they should be doing this already. There is a bike lane there after all! If motorists aren't already being careful then that really just reinforces the case for the bike lanes to be moved to the kerbside. Exiting a car into a vehicle lane is something that Wellingtonians are already well used to and any extra caution required is a small price to pay for making The Parade truly multi-modal.

Keith's concerns about what the cycleway will look like are fair but are also entirely a matter of taste. Keith may think that "the splattering of green everywhere will look horrible" but for many cyclists there is nothing more welcome than the sight of some green paint. There's also some context required here. Surely nobody is going to try and defend the existing 3.0m wide median strip painted in boring white diagonal lines? Parked cars themselves are hardly an attractive feature. Of course, I agree that the cycleway must fit with the Island Bay environment but I know from my involvement with the Island Bay Cycleway Working Party that the council are keen to work with residents to try and achieve this. There certainly won't be green paint along the entire length of the cycleway and the exact design of the poles delineating parking, and whether they are even necessary, is yet to be decided.

a. 1:4 is a 25% gradient. There is no way this is the current slope and easy/safe to cycle on. In fact, 1:10 (10%) is much easier than 1:4. But we don't know where Keith got this 1:10 from.

b. I wonder how Keith took the measurement. He claimed the road width to be 13.72m. Pretty impressive he managed to measure to the 2nd decimal place. Did he use a laser measurement tool?

Reply

Regan

24/8/2015 03:04:26 am

Yes, I'm not sure how Keith took his measurements. Regardless of whether they are correct or not, I think the key thing is that the cycleway has to be judged in the context of the current environment. At the moment the only choice for the kids is to ride on the pavement, which at least as challenging in terms of slope and variation as what is proposed (not to mention annoying for pedestrians and technically illegal). Their only other option is to ride on the road, which is just to dangerous for the younger ones. I've got kids aged 9 and 6 and I just can't see a problem here. They will be much safer on the cycleway, and also leaving the pavement free for pedestrians. I also can't see a problem with the width of the road. Whether the vehicle lanes are actually 2.8m or 3.0m that's still generous by Wellington standards!

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Maria van der Meel

6/9/2015 10:50:30 pm

In terms of road widths for Wellington City, they are dictated by the legal width of heavy vehicles, like buses. This was determined by mutual consent between the parties, WCC and The City is Ours Inc.in the Environment Court with the help of Judge Thompson who ruled the legal width to be 2.98 meters incluidng wing-mirrors. A service request to Council asking for measurements (kerb-face to kerb-face) of certain locations on The Parade using their Geographic Information System delivered guidelines; as the system is not totally accurate.

I too measured The Parade with a measuring wheel; and at its narrowest to be 13.7 meters wide and compared the same for the most part with Councils GIS findings, but more importantly Keith's.

Hi Maria, thanks once again for your comment. However, I'm not sure I agree with you regarding the need for the bike lanes to be 1.5m wide. Ideally they would be as wide as possible of course but 1.4m plus a 0.6m buffer (total 2.0m) will be fine (my bike is only 0.7m wide so there should be plenty of room). That's 20cm of your missing 50cm recovered already, which only leaves us 15cm short on each side of the road. That's not even the length of my hand! Also, don't forget that if there are sections of The Parade that are just too tight there is a very simple solution - take out street parking on at least one side of the road. Which part of The Parade did you measure as being 13.7m and how long is it?

Reply

Maria van der Meel

8/9/2015 10:16:41 am

Your asking me which part of The Parade I measured as 13.7 and how long it is? Thought you would have known that already being a member of the Working Party. Are you saying you did not take any measurements?

Maria van der Meel

7/9/2015 11:53:50 pm

I simply provided measurement as I found them in real time on the 24th of June 2015 to confirm they compared with Keith's. My conclusion is that there is enough room and why again "we have no crash history and moreover sporting a clean safety record". NZTA declined funding this section known as stage 1 for that reason. A letter from the Minister of Transport Hon Simon Bridges confirms the same in its conclusions.

It was Paul Barker Safety and Sustainability Manager for WCC who told me under a Official Information Request the cycle lanes would be 1.5 meter wide; surely I need to take his word for it?

Children in my opinion should be thought how to ride a bike in a controlled environment and sit an exam before they are allowed on the road providing they have a road worthy bike and a helmet. I was about 10 when I sat my exam in the presence of a police officer and received a certificate when I completed the course.

Reply

Regan

8/9/2015 12:01:54 pm

Hi Maria, thanks for clarifying. I agree with you that there should be room on The Parade to safely fit the cycleway in. Like all roads The Parade has some minor variations in its total width at different points and if any of these points turn out to have not quite enough room in practice there are a number of possible solutions, including not having on-street parking at that point or even cutting the kerb back a little bit for a short section. Nothing that can't be done as long as people are genuine about wanting to make this work - not just in Island Bay but across Wellington.

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Phil

8/9/2015 08:20:32 pm

Congratulations on getting your bike certificate Maria but your attitude towards kids seems a bit old-fashioned. You obviously don't think kids should be allowed to ride bikes on The Parade at all. They really shouldn't have to ride on the pavement (and I'm sure you'll be the first to point out that's technically illegal) and there's no way a kid much younger than 10 is going to capable of learning the skills required to be on a 50kph road with buses, trucks etc. So basically you're saying they can't bike down the main road in their own suburb. I think that's a terrible attitude in a modern society and the cycle lanes will be very welcome, not just for kids but for anyone who isn't that confident biking with traffic.

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Maria van der Meel

8/9/2015 09:29:47 pm

Thank you Phil, it would be similar to one passing a drivers license before going onto the open road. Riding bikes on the footpath is acceptable up to a point, and depends on the diameter of the wheels on the bike, legally allowing young ones to practice balance and some of the basics on the footpath.

Greater Wellington sponsors programs 'free of charge' to schools targeting students wanting to learn to ride and/or brush up on their skills in a controlled environment. http://pedalready.org.nz/schools/

Greater Wellington on the other hand runs a very successful program where cyclists and bus-drivers swap roles, so they can appreciate and get a better understanding of sharing bus-lanes with one another. NZBus/GoWellington won a cycle safety award in October 2014 for participating in the work-shops.

OK, I think I've been pretty tolerant about letting everyone have their say but I'm not going to approve any more comments on this unless they actually have something new to add to the discussion rather than labouring over points already made (me included!). Thanks.